Deputies: Dimunitive woman wielded hammer before deadly shooting

ROSEMEAD - Deputies on Thursday said a 4-foot-11, 95-pound woman in a mental clinic with a history of psychological disorders was wielding a "full-sized" ball-peen hammer when she was shot and killed.

Jazmyne Ha Eng, 40, of Rosemead, died at the scene Wednesday of the deputy-involved shooting at the Asian Pacific Family Center, 9353 Valley Blvd., Los Angeles County Department of Coroner's Chief of Operations Craig Harvey said.

Lt. Dave Dolson of the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau said Eng was known to the workers at the facility, which treats patients with mental illness and substance abuse.

"She had been a patient there suffering from a few maladies relating to mental illness," Dolson said. "She'd been dealing with her mental health for many years." He declined to give more details.

Three deputies from the sheriff's Temple Station responded to a report Wednesday that a possibly mentally ill woman was sitting in the lobby of the clinic with a hammer in her lap and "acting sort of erratic," Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Tom McNeal said.

It was the second shooting involving deputies from the Temple Station this week.

"When deputies entered the lobby of the location, they encountered (Eng), wielding a hammer above her head, screaming," Deputy Peter Gomez said in a written statement.

Dolson described the hammer as a "full-sized ball-peen hammer."

Ball-peen hammers have both a flat end and a rounded one. Typically they are used for metal working. It is unclear where the woman obtained the hammer.

The deputies tried to talk to the woman, but she did not respond to their commands, Gomez said. A deputy tried to shock the woman with a Taser, however it was not effective.

"She then advanced toward the deputies, with hammer over head," Gomez said. "Fearing for his safety, a deputy fired two rounds from his duty weapon, striking her."

The hammer was recovered, officials said.

Sheriff's officials declined to release the names of the deputies involved or say whether they were put on leave. Like all Los Angeles County deputy-involved shootings, the incident is being investigated by the Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and the County of Los Angeles Office of Independent Review.

No one answered the phone Thursday at a number listed in public records as belonging to Eng.

Representatives from the Asian Pacific Family Center could not be reached for comment.

Detectives were continuing their investigation and gathering information on Eng's history, Dolson said.

Sheriff's deputies were called to her Rosemead home about two weeks ago when someone reported a possibly mentally ill woman, Dolson said. Deputies spoke with the involved parties, and the situation was resolved without further incident, they said.

Sheriff's records indicate no previous major incidents at the facility in the past year.

Deputies responded to six calls at the Asian Pacific Family Center in 2011, officials said. They included an out-of-control child, a schizophrenic man who was talking to himself, a burglary alarm, a man passed out in a car, a stolen license plate and suspicious person who was ultimately determined to be a woman whose car had broken down, officials said.

Based on a preliminary review of the basic facts released to the public thus far in the shooting case, former Placer County sheriff's deputy and use of force expert Rocky Warren of Warren Consulting said that while unfortunate, "It sounds like the officer did what had to be done."

Warren teaches police tactics to instructors throughout the country and often testified as an expert witness for law enforcement in police use of force cases.

"There are a lot of factors that go into this," he said, such as the distance between the suspects and deputies and the physical surroundings in which the encounter occurred.

The diminutive size of the suspect, "really doesn't make as much of a difference as people think it does," Warren said. "What's important is how fast can a person travel in three-quarters of a second to a second. That's reaction time."

An average person can cover 12 to 15 feet of ground in three-quarters of a second, he said, the same amount of time required for an officer to decide whether to fire a weapon. The issue is referred to as the "reaction time dilemma."

Warren said he would never train an officer to engage any suspect armed with a weapon capable of deadly force in hand-to-hand combat. "That would be 100 percent foolish," he said.

Wednesday's incident was the second shooting involving deputies from the sheriff's Temple Station this week.

A deputy shot at a man, though it was unclear if he was struck, as the deputy tried to arrest the man on suspicion of drug possession, officials said.

The deputy stopped the man as he rode a bicycle about 4:30 p.m. in the 10600 block of Lower Azusa Road, sheriff's officials said in a written statement.

A fight ensued and the deputy pepper sprayed the man, though he continued to struggle with the deputy, Lt. Tom McNeal said.

When the suspect reached into his waistband, the deputy opened fire, McNeal said.

The suspect ran off and remained at large, officials said. It was not clear if the suspect was hit by gunfire.